How long did it take you to “get” twang

[zaca]

I’m not new to cigars but I’m new to taking them seriously and appreciating them and the different nuances involved. That said, I’m aware my palate isn’t too sophisticated at this point and even though I have a good idea of what twang should be, it hasn’t yet translated to my taste buds or else I haven’t had a good twangy cigar yet. 

So my question to fellow BOTLs - how long did it take you to finally get it? Is it like the saying “it’s hard to define but you’ll know it when you see (taste) it”? Or is it something that you developed a taste for and learned to detect over time? 

[Wookie]

I think there are so few Cuban cigar profiles compared to NC cigars that each one has a specific flavor that becomes associated with “twang”. But there are many NC cigars now that compete equally with Cubans….most often I associate their twang with baker’s spices, while my favorite Cubans show floral, coffee, and baker’s spices. IMHO. 

[yuppie]

I first started smoking NCs and they were all very punchy, big flavors, lots of pepper, just very rich. I still don't know if I've ever had a "subtle" NC. I gravitated toward Connecticuts because those were lighter and more mild. Once I had a few Cubans, I knew they were for me. There are very few NCs that I enjoy smoking now. Cubans just have something different. Subtlety or being more mild or something...

[LizardGizmo]

I believe 'twang' is subjective and not easily definable across all palates. Honestly, I’m even uncertain about my own stance on this.

For me, twang is an elusive flavor note found in some Cuban cigars - often appearing only sometimes in those cigars. It might be experienced in all twenty-five cigars in the box or it might be in only one cigar in the box - who knows! Maybe it's a core reason as to why Cuban cigars remain so compelling to all of us, despite the frustrations we discuss on this forum almost daily.

I tend to experience it as a combination of salt/salinity and an umami-like sensation on the front of my tongue, mouth, and sometimes lips - something I don’t really experience in tobacco from other origins. Montecristo, particularly in a Monte 2, is where I find it most noticeable. When I experience Cuban twang it can often move the cigar from “good” to “great” very quickly.

The memorable and unique experiences I’ve had with twang are one of the reasons I continue to revere Cuban cigars.

On timing, I've learned that focusing on the cigar - rather than smoking during a social event or while watching an intense film or while doom scrolling - helps allow my mind to concentrate on what I'm experiencing. I only learned this through doing the podcast, where we force ourselves to shut everything else out once a week and focus on what we're tasting in the room together. We're not experts or cigar sommeliers by any means, but our process has given us a deeper appreciation and understanding of what we're tasting - both individually and as a group.

[zaca]

6 hours ago, LizardGizmo said:

On timing, I've learned that focusing on the cigar - rather than smoking during a social event or while watching an intense film or while doom scrolling - helps allow my mind to concentrate on what I'm experiencing. I only learned this through doing the podcast, where we force ourselves to shut everything else out once a week and focus on what we're tasting in the room together. We're not experts or cigar sommeliers by any means, but our process has given us a deeper appreciation and understanding of what we're tasting - both individually and as a group.

Great stuff all around - very helpful from everyone.

What I’ve quoted here really resonates with me - for years I’ve enjoyed cigars in various settings - socially while enjoying a drink with friends, while fishing, playing golf, or even doing yard work. But lately I’ve found myself wanting to just sit on my back patio and focus on the cigar as you say and try to fully understand and appreciate what I’m experiencing. Pretty cool journey so far. Sort of upset at myself for taking it for granted for many years though! 

 

[teamrandr]

This should be interesting. Is there a consensus on what the twang is?

[Habanoschris]

I like this question. Early on I got lots of cigars that had a similar floral sometimes fruit and I thought that was the  "twang" I kept hearing about. Then overtime there is a certain leather and earth and mouthfeel that I find in many Cuban cigars and then started to think perhaps this is the Cuban twang 🤣

So I'm not sure anymore tbh, and it's a subjective thing: hard to clarify with others so I didn't bother asking others, lol. 

[Çnote]

To me it's like an unami driven leathery orange peel. Ymmv.

[Montezüma]

54 minutes ago, zaca said:

But lately I’ve found myself wanting to just sit on my back patio and focus on the cigar as you say and try to fully understand and appreciate what I’m experiencing. Pretty cool journey so far. Sort of upset at myself for taking it for granted for many years though! 

I actually consider myself lucky to have such an affinity towards cigars and keen interest in the cigar world. Its a journey that can be spent decades to explore and not everyone gets to have lifelong interests of that kind of magnitude. Certainly Cuban cigars are an inseparable part of that journey and I think that we can all notice a Habanos, they are distinctive and easily differentiated. From that differentiation is the easiest way to define its unique characteristics. The Twang for me is not the differentiator itself, its the piece de resistance because as few have mentioned here, its not always there. I refer to the Twang as when a Cuban cigar is singing all its high notes within a session and I know that FOH here can all recall that particularly extraordinary moment. Usually in the middle and very rarely in the first few puffs. The Twang is not too rare, it can be found with most of the classic marca-vitola but it does require the right setting to flourish. In particular, storage conditions prior to lighting and the smoking environment, which does relate to @LizardGizmo point on focusing on the cigar because the environment allows the extent of our immersion.

[yuppie]

You might describe the subtle complexity as Cuban twang. At the moment I consider "that Cuban twang" as a kind of musty cellar creaminess or mildew-y sweet barnyard hay. Umami forward, leathery orange peel or citrus is a great way of describing it too.

When you open up a slide lid box, and hear that crinkle of unwrapping the white paper veil, the aroma hitting my nose is just so unique, that is what sticks in my mind. You just don't get that with new world's and I have no idea why. Is it the freshness of the leaves or the genome maybe the climate and growing conditions? It can't just be the cedar box...

I've asked Claude about it and these are the bits I find interesting or tend to agree with: Terroir-Driven Foundation: At its heart, the Cuban twang comes from the unique combination of Cuba's volcanic soil, climate, and the specific tobacco varietals that have evolved there over centuries. The Vuelta Abajo region's red clay soil imparts mineral notes that become part of the tobacco's DNA.

Flavor Characteristics:

• A distinctive earthiness that's clean yet rich
• Mineral notes that taste like the soil itself
• A certain "mustiness" that's elegant rather than off-putting
• Coffee and chocolate undertones that seem naturally integrated
• A creamy, almost buttery texture to the smoke

The "Snap": Many describe a particular "snap" or brightness to Cuban tobacco - a liveliness on the tongue that keeps the palate engaged.

[Ford2112]

Twang to me is a prune dipped in horse manure.

[CaptainQuintero]

2 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

Twang to me is a prune dipped in horse manure

You would have loved my ex's cooking.

[99call]

46 minutes ago, CaptainQuintero said:

You would have loved my ex's cooking.

Today's winner of the internet.

[Fugu]

It’s there, in every single Cuban, yet I can’t define it.

[El Niño]

Still pretty new to this myself – I think I first really noticed twang when I lit up my first MOFOH Corta Suave. I had smoked through a box of Partagas Mille Fleurs, and when I lit the Corta, I noticed a similarity to the Partagas that I haven't tasted in anything else. 

I've smoked new world cigars for a number of years, so that unique tart-savory flavory jumped out. I think that's cuban twang? Maybe cuban twang is the friends we make along the way...

[99call]

I will try and put it into words how i understand the use of 'Twang' in terms of CC. 

Firstly why does "tang" not quite do it in terms of a descriptive? Well...I think tang solely refers to a sourness or acerbic quality and that's why it feels a little reductive, and doesn't fully reflect whats happening on the palate. 

I think it's important to go back and acknowledge what the world 'Twang' means

1. A strong ringing sound such as that made by the plucked string of a musical instrument or a released bowstring.

 

I think the highly unusual adoption of the word "twang" by those passionate about cigars leads back to it's more orthodox descriptor as a sound. 

 

Can a flavour vibrate or resonate on the palate? FOH members in the past have sometimes referred to a "fizziness" on the palate. I think what's happening is a combination of a creaminess and a sourness happening at the same time, creating a odd sort of harmonic resonance and juxtaposition. A bit like if you've ever been served a fruit salad and someone offers you pouring cream to put in it. It kind of works and the flavour is pleasant, but at the same time your aware the acid it curdling the cream. The science is saying "Nooooooo". but the brain is saying  "Yeeeeeeees"

 

This to me is when cigars become truly great. When sensory contrasting flavours get put together that shouldn't work...but magically do. This is also why I find Punch cigars to be king of "Twang". Fruit+sourness+creaminess...it makes the magic happen. 

 

Just my take.

[bmac]

19 hours ago, LizardGizmo said:

I believe 'twang' is subjective and not easily definable across all palates. Honestly, I’m even uncertain about my own stance on this.

For me, twang is an elusive flavor note found in some Cuban cigars - often appearing only sometimes in those cigars. It might be experienced in all twenty-five cigars in the box or it might be in only one cigar in the box - who knows! Maybe it's a core reason as to why Cuban cigars remain so compelling to all of us, despite the frustrations we discuss on this forum almost daily.

I tend to experience it as a combination of salt/salinity and an umami-like sensation on the front of my tongue, mouth, and sometimes lips - something I don’t really experience in tobacco from other origins. Montecristo, particularly in a Monte 2, is where I find it most noticeable. When I experience Cuban twang it can often move the cigar from “good” to “great” very quickly.

The memorable and unique experiences I’ve had with twang are one of the reasons I continue to revere Cuban cigars.

On timing, I've learned that focusing on the cigar - rather than smoking during a social event or while watching an intense film or while doom scrolling - helps allow my mind to concentrate on what I'm experiencing. I only learned this through doing the podcast, where we force ourselves to shut everything else out once a week and focus on what we're tasting in the room together. We're not experts or cigar sommeliers by any means, but our process has given us a deeper appreciation and understanding of what we're tasting - both individually and as a group.

I concur on Monte 2. I had one last month and the twang was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before and I’ve been smoking cigars for almost 30 years. Wild,organic magic.

[Cigarsmoker81]

Good question. Similar to many here I identify it with how Cuban taste after I’ve smoked NCs for few days. I often associated with floral/ fruity flavors that I don’t usually pick up from NCs. I could be completely wrong and I honestly doubt there is a right answer. 

[BG318]

This is an excellent question. I have tried to identify the elusive quality of twang in a CC for quite awhile. It has been an engrossing, sometime frustrating, all consuming search for me. After many years I have come to the conclusion - 

It's a prune dipped in horse manure.

[BlueWS]

Getting to learn what twang is has been a costly experience. I'd like to vent a little...

What the Blind Taste Test contest cemented in my mind is these cigars are wildly inconsistent. We all know they're better with age, but bottom line - THEY ALL NEED TO BE AGED. I do not agree with the idea that 2024 sticks are smoking well now. Compared to what - super harsh bitter trash you couldn't even touch early? I cannot finish an entire 2024 dated cigar without it getting nasty past the halfway mark (and I smoke slowly). Why am I paying $20-$33 for half a cigar? I've developed an ammonia sensitivity after smoking these things for two years. I thought I might have an edge in the contest having recently smoked 40+ vitolas with a year or less of age. NOPE! There's no way you can smoke these cigars young and be rewarded. How are you supposed to build a foundation to understand what the standard for any vitola is without having a box of aged stock? You have to be damn lucky to get an exceptional one early. You need to smoke A LOT OF CIGARS to understand each one. Wouldn't it be amazing to pick up ANY JL#2 and go "oh there's the citrus note" or any D4 "there's the bell pepper" or any CORO "ahh that's the twang everyone talks about, so much hay and honey!". Instead we deal with "I got a bad one", "not enough age on this one but I can tell it has aging potential" (thanks for the non-sequitur), "wrapper was too thin it cracked and I had to toss it". So how can anyone faithfully judge a current production cigar that isn't aged? I don't think an experienced cigar enthusiast can go anywhere in the world, pick up a single (expect to have a good time), and rate that cigar box worthy or not. If not, the longer you wait the more expensive it gets until eventually it's $500 for a box of 10 regular sticks. It'll happen.

I also prefer the mild to medium Cuban cigars over all the New Worlds because I like the distinct variety of Cubans, but is it worth going through all this? I just wish they all had 3yrs of age and if you buy a 10 count box they're all perfect and if you buy a single you don't have to question it, but that's a pipe dream. This is a silly game for anyone smoking Cubans for the first time. Cuban cigars is a rich man's game now. I get a few people are patient casual smokers willing to try a box of anything or they can spare no expense and buy a box of everything they see. I believe in value for my money and effort. I've done what many of you have - I switched to Fabrica 5 stock for consistent enjoyment. The Cubans I have are aging and when they're gone they're gone. There's a couple I really love, but most of them weren't worth the expense. I'm not a collector. I'd have to be blown away by the stock I have left to ever consider buying another box or at least find an aged box for $1,000, because I want that cigar bad enough to pay a premium for it. Probably $2,000 by then. Oooof.

[cigaraholic]

For me twang is the pyramid effect...1+1=3, sweet and salty, chocolate and roasted nuts…aka Monte. And then there’s sweet, salty and savory…TWANG. Cuban tobacco is so sweet you always get this delicious interplay between that sweetness and the earthiness of the soil, or the fruitiness of the tobacco, or the myriad of other flavors Cuban tobacco has. When you combine 2 or more great flavors together bells can start ringing.

[Capn_Jackson]

I take my coffee black, because I want all focus to be on the flavor coming from the bean. After taking a sip, there is a distinct note on the end of the finish, however long that finish lasts. It has at times a floral taste, but almost always has some mix of nutmeg and baking spices, tossed with very light cocoa and dried mushroom. The twang of a Cuban cigar, to me, is like that dying note long after each sip of coffee. Very few NCs convey the same experience for me, but almost all CCs do.

[Deeg]

I’ve always gotten it more in LGC than any other marca.

[Hammer Smokin']

They're just cigars. Plants. I don't over think and look for anything. I just smoke'm.

[Grimlock]

It took me a while. I had to take her on a bunch of dates first.